ANCHORAGE — The University of Alaska Board of Regents has named a new university president after a monthslong search for the right candidate.

The Alaska Dispatch News reports the university announced Tuesday that Jim Johnsen would replace retiring University of Alaska President Pat Gamble. Johnsen, who serves as senior vice president of Alaska Communications, will take over as president on Sept. 1.

FAIRBANKS — State services like the pioneers’ homes, the aerospace corporation and the agriculture division are among Alaska’s least important, according to participants in a budget conference held by Gov. Bill Walker.

Those were the only three services identified as low priority Saturday during the three-day conference at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, reported The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

JUNEAU — The Juneau Assembly has tripled a tax on cigarettes, with the intent that people will think twice before shelling out more than $10 for 20 smokes.

The Assembly on Monday night approved increasing the local tax to $3 a pack, up from the current $1. With an existing 5 percent sales tax and a $2 state tax, an average pack will now exceed $10, the Juneau Empire reported.

The assembly approved the hike as an excise tax instead of a sales tax that would have had to go to voters for approval.

KETCHIKAN — The Ketchikan City Council has voted against supporting the legalization of recreational marijuana.Council members voted last week to approve a resolution opposing the general election ballot proposition that would legalize marijuana in Alaska. The resolution urged voters to reject Ballot Proposition 2, the Ketchikan Daily News reports.The resolution said legalizing recreational marijuana would create public health hazards such as explosions from people making concentrates, or driving under the influence of pot.

JUNEAU — A local Juneau carpenters union has closed after more than 70 years, part of a nationwide trend aimed at cost savings and efficiencies.

Juneau’s Carpenter Union Local 2247, which represented about 150 carpenters and was in existence since 1939, has been absorbed by Anchorage’s local 1281 after recently shutting down, KTOO reported. About 35 carpenter union locals in the Pacific Northwest have closed in the past three years to join larger local unions.

FAIRBANKS — The National Guard has helped evacuate residents from a small community in Alaska’s interior where a river ice jam caused major flooding, washing out roads and submerging homes and other buildings.

State officials estimate several hundred people have left the town of Galena, which remained mostly underwater Tuesday with the Yukon River ice jam firmly in place, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

BETHEL — A Bethel judge has ruled against some of nearly two dozen Yup’ik Eskimo fishermen cited for illegally fishing king salmon in the Kuskokwim River during a poor run last year.

Several of the fishermen were found guilty Monday after their trials by judge resumed. Magistrate Bruce Ward adjourned the cases last month until he could determine whether the fishermen have a spiritual right to fish for king salmon when restrictions are in place, as they claim.

ANCHORAGE — A private liberal arts college in Anchorage is lowering its tuition by more than 30 percent, with a goal of making a college education more affordable for Alaskans and boosting enrollment, the president of Alaska Pacific University said.

The school’s board last week decided to reduce tuition by nearly $10,000 per year, from $29,600 to $19,950, KSKA reported. University President Don Bantz said that will make Alaska Pacific more competitive with out-of-state colleges.

FAIRBANKS — Denali National Park and Preserve’s entrance area facilities opened Wednesday for the summer visitor season, despite some lingering snow cover.

KUAC reports the popular sled dog demonstrations also were scheduled to begin that day, though park spokeswoman Kris Fister said officials were trying to remove snow from the track used for the demonstrations.